Submission (#1233) Approved

Hanami scampered around the backyard of her aunt Anko’s house in Kyendi as energetic as always. Perhaps she got a bit too rough though as her sibling Mallow let out an overwhelmed cry when she tackled him. Her expression turned from gleeful to immediate worry. “I’m sorry Mallow I didn’t mean to be that rough.” She fumbled an apology as she crawled off of them. “We can play a different game instead.” She hurriedly said. “How about hide and seek tag? You seek me out and if you see me run you have to catch me!” She said, with a certain confident air. Hanami loved games and unlike Mallow who seemed to amble along she had a lot of energy to burn off in a day. Mallow seemed to sigh but nodded.

“I’ll count to 50 and then I’ll try to find you.” They said, straightening themselves a bit before they sat down and began to count. “One...two….three…” He began but Hanami’s itching paws had already whisked her away. Maybe she should have set more ground rules...well as long as they stayed close to town it wouldn’t be too bad. They had a usual play range ever since their father had caught them going a bit too deep into the jungle foliage and scolded them firmly. Today though she may still have pushed that boundary just a tad. It would be too easy otherwise, she convinced herself.

Running she came to a clearing near a small waterfall, the water cascading down to a stream that gnarled tree roots wove into from the river bank. Vines stretched elegantly above and Hanami carefully scouted out a good place to hide. She settled under some thick leaves in the ground cover. Surely by now Mallow had finished counting and was searching eagerly for her. She smiled at the thought, satisfied with her spot. She was starting to calm down though, listening to the birds and crickets chirping in the area and the ambient crashing of the water at the base of the waterfall before her. It was so soothing she felt like she was drifting off a bit. When she awoke she wondered how long it had been. She could see the sun had already crested the highest point in the sky to mark noon past. While the sun was not setting quite yet, in time it would be she knew.

Her muscles had relaxed a bit and she felt no great urgency to hurry back home, though she knew others would worry about her. She was a bit bleary eyed and groggy and with Mallow nowhere in sight she rolled over on her back to lay in the clearing and stare at the sky. Floating islands cast shadows on the ground below, at least those close enough to the ground. Other floating islands were quite elevated and just specks in the sky from where she lay. Out of the corner of her eye she saw something drop into the river with a plunk. It looked like a bird dropping a stone. She went to the river bank where it was shallow to look in the water. While not all streams in this jungle were particularly clear in the shallower waters where she stood the river bottom was still visible. She almost pulled her feet out of the cool current but upon looking down the reflection gave her pause.

Staring back at her was a brown rabbit with a white cotton tail and pink almond shaped eyes. It’s ears were perked up, alert and vivid pink and green speckles dotted its fur alongside some white ones. The snap of a different animal stepping on a branch caught her off guard and she moved her paws, causing the water and reflection to ripple beneath them. With an almost entranced stare she looked at the opposite side of the bank where the rabbit sat, it’s eyes staring cautiously back at her. Her feet were numb from standing in the water for what must have been longer than the moment felt to her. It was almost as though she were in a meditative state and hadn’t even noticed.

The rabbits ears twitched a moment as it cautiously hopped around, as though it was exploring the area. Hanami couldn’t make sense of what was happening though. The rabbit looked so familiar and, while it wasn’t a kittom, she could have sworn it resembled her, only a bit odder. She followed it but it seemed to not react at all to the world around it. The chirps of Kyendi’s local fauna and the roots on the ground even went unnoticed. At one point in time Hanami could have sworn she saw the rabbit’s paw go straight through a root.

One thing it did seem to stare back at was her though. When she got too close it bolted with an energy that reminded her of her own speed. Her feet picked up and carried her after the rabbit. A few times it seemed to go through trees and other objects that she skirted, before it slowed down to settle back on its haunches and look around, as if seeking her out. The whole situation felt so familiar she barely noticed that the colors of the sky were slowly tinting. How long would this game of chase last? She couldn’t help but wonder. Where had this rabbit been hiding this whole time and why did it remind her so much of herself? She finally lept for it, reaching to try to catch it between her paws only to find she fumbled forward from a sitting position back in the clearing where she had been utterly and completely confused. The sky changing was the only thing that seemed to stick but everything else felt like a dream of sorts that she had fallen into while staying calm.

The peculiar version of herself seemed to have disappeared and with it her urge to stay out in the forest any longer. Hurriedly she left to return home to recount the experience to Mallow and her father. Surely her father would know about it but he seemed as lost as she was when she repeated what had happened. Most of all though he seemed relieved she was back safe and didn’t seem to think she was lying. Stranger things had happened in Kyendi and her father was probably no stranger to such events.